Midlands
The Midlands lie in central England. To the west lies Wales and to the east East Anglia. The Midlands correspond to the early mediæval Kingdom of the Mercians.
The largest city of the Midlands is Birmingham, and it was an important location for the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. It was far from alone though; the Midlands have been a hive of industry from the nineteenth century to today with many industrial cities.
Extent of the Midlands
The Midlands have no strict definition, but it is generally considered to include the lands between Wales and East Anglia, north of the River Thames and south of a line from the Humber to the River Mersey, excluding the Home Counties; though "Home Counties" and "East Anglia" are troublesome definitions in themselves.
The Midlands by this definition may be considered to comprise:
The largest Midlands conurbation, which includes the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton, is that of Birmingham and the Black Country. Other parts of the Midlands are also densely populated, particularly the triangle formed by the cities of Nottingham, Leicester and Derby, which also includes sizeable towns such as Loughborough and the Long Eaton–Beeston–Stapleford subconurbation. These areas too were leaders in the Industrial Revolution and their towns grew wealthy and large as a result.
Cities and notable towns
- Birmingham, Boston, Burton upon Trent,
- Chesterfield, Corby, Coventry,
- Derby, Dudley,
- Halesowen, Hereford,
- Kettering, Kidderminster
- Leamington Spa, Leicester, Lichfield, Lincoln, Loughborough,
- Mansfield,
- Newcastle-under-Lyme, Northampton, Nottingham, Nuneaton,
- Oakham,
- Redditch, Rugby, Rushden,
- Shrewsbury, Smethwick, Solihull, Stafford, Stoke-on-Trent, Stourbridge, Stratford-upon-Avon, Sutton Coldfield,
- Tamworth, Telford,
- Walsall, Warwick, West Bromwich, Wolverhampton, Worcester.